TEDx Rio de la Plata: Ideas in motion
Buenos Aires Herald.com staff
The first edition of the TEDx Rio de la Plata took place in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, with several Argentine personalities offering their personal insight and experience on ideas that not only are "worth spreading," but that can also improve many areas of our society.
Originally started as yearly conferences in California and Oxford, the TED (acronym for Technology, Entertainment and Design) events have spread around the world thanks to the insightful content being offered by their speakers and the countless videos of them available on You Tube.
That's why the TED NGO decided to create TEDx, a similar concept, although locally and independently organized. The TEDx events are officially recognized by TED, but they are organized by different group of people around the world who want to repeat the format.
Only on Tuesday, seven other TEDx events were taking place around the world, from the US to the UAE.
As in every TEDx around the world, the 2011 Río de la Plata edition offered a wide array of speakers coming from extremely different backgrounds, all of them speaking from personal experience and offering the audience advice on how to create or pursue their own personal goals that will somehow make for a better world.
Hernán Casciari, creator of the internationally-famed blog and magazine Orsai, was one of the most awaited speakers. He described his experience with big publishers, which he said were responsible for restraining creativity and keeping writers away from their readers.
He urged young writers to rely heavily on the web, and promised that if one’s book is ever published, “the first thing you should do is make your book available for free on the web. I guarantee it will be a huge success.”
Guatemalan Luis von Ahm also came on stage to explain an invention of his, the captcha (that pesky little box that appears on your screen monitor from time to time, containing a series of letters that you must type in in order to prove you’re human), and how through typing them people are unknowingly helping perfect the digitalization process of millions of books.
Activist Manuel Lozano was also present in order to talk about his experiences in the Red Solidaria NGO, an organization with over 1000 members that solely consists of creating a network of people that are willing to work together for the good of society.
Among other guest speakers were animal trainer Fabián Gabelli, space-oriented technology creator Emiliano Kargieman, public education advocate Axel Rivas and Doctor Alejandro Nieponice, who specializes in the regeneration of human tissue.
Hosted by biologist and TV host Diego Golombek, who successfully managed to smooth the transition between talks, the event was also made available via live video streaming for all those who either didn't get a ticket or live far from Buenos Aires.
The organizers also offered several videos from previous TEDx talks around the world that were just as awe inspiring as those offered live.
Before heading into the several breaks planned out during the day, a few artists showed up on stage, such as popular folklorist Chango Spasiuk and the a cappella sextet Vox Pop, who performed an impromptu rendition of the original songs from the 1990 and 2010 football world cup tournaments.
An experimental band named "El Diablo en la Boca," also performed, offering an eclectic and original song with reminiscence of tribal music.
Out of the many who applied for a chance to attend the event, only 1500 people were lucky enough to gain access to it.
In its first edition, the TEDx Rio de Plata began at 9 am and concluded at 7 pm in the Costa Salguero complex in Palermo.
For additional information about future editions, photos and videos, please visit www.tedxriodelaplata.org
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